pain split
by Bursyamo
Summary: His voice is always so soft — it's hard to hear him over the waves. - sapphire & ruby, au.
1. Chapter 1

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A salamence attacks two young children.

The dragon raises its great claws, casting a shadow that completely engulfs the quivering little girl. They descend upon her as she stands paralyzed with fear, tears in her eyes and a shriek stuck in her throat.

Time seems to slow.

The boy, lionhearted he is, runs towards her on short six-year-old legs. He has to move her out of the way.

...But his heart proves to be much too ambitious.

He trips.

A scream. And blood.

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A young girl is growing up.

She loves pretty dresses and learns to sew them, although she's a bit slow. Her mama teaches her patiently until she can hold her own, and eventually disappears.

She's interested in science but grows tired of learning to read the textbooks. She keeps forgetting which letters make which sound, and they're frustrating to piece together.

Her father lets her raise young pokemon instead. It's a lot more fun.

The pokemon run away from her sometimes, but papa tells her not to chase them. He asks her if she wants a pokemon of her own.

She says yes, of course, every trainer needs a pokemon. There's a lot to choose from, but she likes the vibrant colors of the starters best.

Mudkip flees and hides under a table, and treeko is completely nonchalant, meeting her gaze evenly, a bored look to his eye. Papa hits his head trying to catch mudkip, who escapes out the door.

She chooses torchic - or perhaps, torchic chooses her. The small fire-type totters over to her, chirping and tugging the frayed ends of her dress.

Torchic is the first to accept her as she is. The torchic isn't torchic now, but Chamo.

She spoils her one pokemon, her only friend, with bows and small dresses that look funny. Chamo doesn't seem to mind - mind anything, for that matter. The torchic never returns to her pokeball, because neither of them want her to leave. She's a tad clingy.

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But as she looks out the window, Chamo in her lap, her heart is filled with longing. She's torn. She's afraid to go outside, yet...

She really does want to leave home, and become a trainer. No, not just a trainer. She's looking to become the champion eventually.

Or maybe a part-time coordinator. Full-time coordinator. Perhaps a contest judge in the end.

No, she's not actually completely sure what she wants to do out there.

But she's sure wants to go.

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Her papa is loving and protective and reluctant, but he lets her make her own choices. She adores him.

She meticulously pieces together an outfit. A trainer's outfit. It takes forever and her papa ends up helping her.

The end product looks like it was made for a tough, battle-ready trainer. Something she really shouldn't wear - like most other things - but her papa makes her try it on.

She's going to be a trainer, right? Coordinator, maybe?

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They're in front of the mirror and she's staring at herself a little nervously. She kind of wants to cry.

But Chamo's in her arms and nuzzling her neck and papa's warm hands are on her shoulders. He smiles encouragingly, and looks so, so proud of her.

She guesses that she should be a little more proud of herself, too. A trainer needs a little self-esteem to keep going.

She stares some more at the terrifying scar that had taken away the right side of her face, but manages to grin a disfigured grin anyway.

She can't remember how she got it.

But if she's still alive, she could take anything.

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_r&r pls lol maybe i'll post more if u like oras ftw_


	2. Chapter 2

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Her hand _thrums_, as if her blood is singing. Or churning. Either way, it's getting rather uncomfortable, and the urge to itch is becoming harder to resist. Frowning, she tugs off her glove.

The sensation doesn't cease. In fact, with the red, glowing lines finally exposed to the air, she can begin to actually feel her blood pulsing through her veins. She whines, exasperated. "Just quit it!"

She hears him shift, startled by her sudden outburst. "U-uhh... sorry?"

"Not you, Ruby," she says, rubbing her bare hand. "the orb. It's being annoying again."

Chamo stirs from her nap. Only a few moments later, the pokemon is taking her trainer's hand in her claws, rubbing the ominous symbol for her with softly padded fingers. It does nothing to soothe the throbbing, maybe even exacerbates it, but Sapphire appreciates the gesture a lot so she lets her continue.

"Oh," he finally murmurs. His voice is always so soft — it's hard to hear him over the waves. "maybe we've been resting too long..."

"Do you feel anything?" She tries to speak louder so that she can hear herself. The glow of her lines seem to pulse, to the pace of her blood.

A pause. "A little. My hand itches."

Sounds mild compared to her predicament — she's glad. She doubts he'd handle the feeling of his blood churning in his veins very well.

"This stinks."

They're on opposite sides of the tree, and she's facing the other way, watching the waves lap at the shore, but suddenly she feels he's right beside her.

No, closer. More as if they're... overlapping. His tenuous, airy presence materializes in her right side, like a ghost trying to take possession of her body. He's impalpable, yet closer than Chamo. Inside her, again.

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From the bushes, a minun scampers out into the open, making a beeline for Sapphire. It has a berry of some sort in its mouth, which for some reason is dropped into her free hand. She smiles graciously at the electric type.

It grins back — wild pokemon are awfully friendly around here, she thinks.

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The orbs made them connected somehow. It's uncomfortable, but nothing she can't take.

Ruby speaks on queue. "Juan said..."

"Yeah, it's supposed to be normal..." She trails off. While she's glad it's Ruby's presence she experiences and not some weird stranger's, she wishes she could just rid the orb from her body. Just run away and forget about everything — which, she probably can do. But she can't leave Hoenn like it is now.

Chamo hums, snapping her out of her reverie. Possibly sensing her frustration, the pokemon draws her hand closer to examine. Her eyes meet Sapphire's.

"It's not that bad, Chamo. Just tired, I guess."

Like an object fished out from water, Ruby disappears from her body. She's not sure if she'll miss him.

She hears him stand. "Where you going?"

"Going to ask Juan for a longer break."

"Thought that was a bad thing?" she states more than asks.

"Maybe it is... but, I'm pretty exhausted. Sure you are, too." Nana plods after her trainer, sparing Sapphire a glance as they leave to find Juan.

"Oh."

She stays mute until his footsteps fade completely. It doesn't take long; the waves are growing restless. Chamo continues to massage her palm while minun slowly dozes off in her lap, snuggling into her mud-stained skirt; she wonders when it got there. Her arm tingles.

She looks out to the water. "The sea's pretty loud, isn't it?"

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The serpent sparkles under the sun like a jewel, its movements lithe and graceful unlike any pokemon she'd ever seen before — the epitome of beauty. Her gaze is transfixed. She wonders what such a lovely creature would be doing out here.

Its wide, crimson eyes meet Sapphire's, and her heart skips a beat. They hold each other's gaze for a moment before the water-type begins to move towards her, leaving the shallow waters and gliding up the bank. It's heading straight for her.

Startled, she takes a few steps back — something is wrong, something is missing, and though she's not sure what it is, she probably has to get away from this pokemon. Her nerves in her arm begin to skitter and she can imagine kyogre's mark flaring. The serpent closes in, as fast on land as it is in water.

She backs into a tree.

"Hey."

Ruby appears beside her just as the milotic is within a few feet of them. He reaches up and the pokemon obliges, lowering its head, allowing him to stroke its smooth neck. Now reassured that it's — probably — tame, she relaxes her shoulders. It's just the three of them under the tree.

More hesitantly than when he'd petted the milotic, he gently takes her hand and presses a pokeball into her palm. It's empty, yet warm. "You left this again."

_Again?_ She doesn't get it. She supposes it's his gift to her.

"Oh. Thanks." She stares at the pokeball mutely, before looking back at the serpent pokemon.

It's not moving. Like it wants to be caught.

The milotic merely stares at her face, as if searching for something.

In her peripheral, Ruby wrings his hands, gazing between the two. He was pretty friendly with the pokemon earlier, she muses.

"Isn't this your milotic?" Sapphire finally asks. That would make more sense, after all, though it wouldn't explain why he gave her its ball.

He smiles a bit. "Used to be. Check the pokeball."

Milotic trills in agreement.

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Maybe it's just her imagination, but she feels tiny, warm hands on her cheeks.

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She squeezes her eye shut, wishing the images away. She wants peace right now.

But they only reemerge in her head, the one time she wants not to remember things. Not seeing makes everything seem more real, more evident — the smell of burning and dust, the taste and smell of metal, the low moans of those like her replace her loss of visibility.

Soot lines her throat; she can't move, let alone stand, so she tries to hold her breath, but it only serves to worsen the pain in her chest. An exhale, shakier than the previous ones.

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She can still hear the sea. It's calming down one moment and rearing up the next, in sync with her emotions.

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Serenity, that's what she needs.

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_r&r pls — or else go find someone u love and tell them u love them like right now_


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